


no grave can hold my body down

by aryasbadbenergy



Series: gendrya week 2019 [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arya X Gendry Week, Brotherhood Without Banners - Freeform, F/M, Marriage, aged up arya & aged down gendry, also bad!cat but not really she just wants what she thinks is best for the family, axgweek, gendrya week 2019, i made them like 16-18, let’s run away, word vomit got the best of me tho sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-07-24 18:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/pseuds/aryasbadbenergy
Summary: arya and gendry were married in secret but walder frey would like to collect the last part of his deal with the king in the north (day 1: let’s run away)named for “work song” by hozier!!





	no grave can hold my body down

**Author's Note:**

> it’s gendrya week 2019 🤪🤪 !!! i’m stoked y’all here is day 1 and i hope you like these they’re why i haven’t really posted any fic in about a month ahhh!!

****

**My baby never fret none**  
**About what my hands and my body done**  
**If the lord don't forgive me**  
**I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me**

**Work Song ~ Hozier**

Arya can still remember the first time Gendry had looked at her like that. Maybe it wasn't the first time he had looked at her, but it was the first time she understood what it meant. She had, by the underwhelming mercy of the Gods, Arya supposed, been with Lady Smallwood the first time she bled who had told her what was happening to her body. She was a woman grown after that, and wanted to embrace the title. Gendry's eyes never lingered on her, but Arya found it entertaining to find ways to make him blush. Spending most of his time with the Brotherhood or hammering away in the forge, had somehow made him surlier, yet he always smiled for Arya.

Lady Smallwood had taken extra care to separate the pair when Gendry rode back with the brotherhood after Arya had flowered. It hadn't helped her qualms that Gendry stayed in the forge alone and that Arya was quick on her feet, either. She liked to keep Arya with her during the day, doing needlework, because she thought it was what Arya enjoyed. With practice and Lady Smallwood's patience, Arya's stitching had improved, but it was still rare that Arya's stitches weren't at least a little crooked. It wasn't as frustrating to practice when Lady Smallwood never berated her for her stitching.

And Gendry would let her water dance with the lighter swords and long daggers that he mended before their owners came back while Lady Smallwood slept.

Gendry had returned in the night once, at least four moons since they first arrived at Acorn Hall, and Arya wanted to go and greet him. She hadn't seen him in several nights, and all he did was kiss her for the first time and then fall asleep, but when they were found in his bed the next morning, the shrill shouts of Lady Smallwood at Tom could be heard throughout all of the Riverlands.

Lady Smallwood had cracked down harder on the pair, demanding that Lem keep better watch of Gendry and tried to explain to Arya on several different occasions how special her virtue was, and that she can not give it to anyone who isn't her husband.

(Mayhaps she should have chosen better wording.)

They shared small kisses behind trees and closed doors and Arya left the small keep to visit him in the forge when she could, which was when Lady Smallwood slept and it was too dark for her guards to recognize Arya.

It hadn't been until they swam in the river, just the two of them, that Gendry clenched his jaw and Arya set his hands on her. He had touched her with trembling fingers beneath her small clothes and Arya was sure that she would never feel anything as wonderful again.

She had spent moons coaxing him, sighing into his ear, rutting her hips in his lap before he pressed her back to the cot in the forge while everyone else slept (or whored). "That was fun," she had told him. His cheeks turned pink and then so had Arya's, and he kissed her nose and told her to go to sleep.

Gendry told her that he wanted to marry her, and Arya took time to think. She had heard all kinds of stories from the Brotherhood about how, in times of war, it didn't really matter who married who if you weren't highborn. Lady Smallwood still didn't know that Arya had been the daughter of Eddard Stark, and the Brotherhood wouldn’t even know what was happening in time to stop it.

Lady Smallwood took the news better than expected. She was not happy by any means, but eventually came to the conclusion that if Arya were to marry, a strong knight like Gendry wasn't a poor choice. The Brotherhood had been worse, and told Arya that she wasn’t as valuable as a hostage anymore.

That had made Gendry angry, and Arya, too, but she decided that the headache wasn’t worth the fighting when Arya and Gendry were already married, and nothing the Brotherhood could say would change that.

Moons later though, when the Brotherhood decided that Arya’s mother and brother were close enough to Acorn Hall that it would be safe enough to return her, everyone’s qualms started to worry her as well.

All of the brothers said that the King in the North would not accept a bastard blacksmith as the princess’s husband, and with each passing day, Arya started to believe it.

Her goodbye to Lady Smallwood had been difficult, when Lady Smallwood was the first adult to really care about Arya in a long time. Arya wanted to pretend like she didn’t still mourn at night for her parents because she was a woman grown now, but Lady Smallwood had been kind to her and made it a little easier to keep going.

Lady Smallwood was never told who Arya was, although her suspicions had grown stronger everyday that Arya might be the lost Northern Princess.

"When we get to Riverrun," Gendry sighs. "What happens then?"

Arya chews her lip. "I'll tell my mother and brother the truth," she promises. "I'll make sure they know that I wouldn't have survived without you." The words felt a little thick in her throat. Even if Gendry was her husband, it was still hard to admit out loud that she still needed help sometimes.

"You would have," he says with a nod. Arya gives him a small nod back.

* * *

When Arya finally got to touch her mother for the first time in years, hold her, breathe in her familiar scent, feel safe, she couldn’t help but cry in relief. She spent the night of her reunion with her mother and brother joyously until they revealed to her that she was to marry Elmar Frey. 

"I can't get married," she mutters. She had hoped that introducing her husband to her mother and brother would’ve been a little easier.

"I beg your pardon?”

“Arya, you must,” Robb begs.

Arya swallows thickly, but raises her head highly. She couldn’t be sheepish about him now.

"I've already married a man of the Brotherhood."

Catelyn nearly cried, and Robb excused himself for the rest of the evening.

* * *

The next morning, Robb told Arya how easy the process to cast aside Arya’s marriage would be since there was no proof that the marriage was consummated. He struggled to say that to Arya, but did not struggle when he began to berate her for her choices. 

"You're only a child, Arya," Robb sighs. "You weren't old enough to make those choices. We understand that you married a knight to keep you safe, but you were young and easily manipulated. We can take care of all of it for you if you allow us to help.”

"Then I'm only a child when it suits you and a woman grown when it suits you." Robb furrows his eyebrows at her. "I'm too young to choose my own husband, but I'm old enough to bear sons for Elmar Frey," she spits. Robb clenches his jaw and turns away, ashamed. “You chose your wife, as well. The Brotherhood told me how you swore to marry a Frey girl, but when you left the Twins, you took a different wife. I never swore to do anything.”

Arya turns to leave the room, but her mother grabs her arm.

“Arya, please, we want to help you. You don’t have to be married to the blacksmith for protection anymore. You’re safe with us, and when you marry Elmar, you’ll still be safe. You were scared alone out there and thought that if you married that boy he would protect you. You didn’t have to do that, but we can fix it.”

Arya feels tears prick her eyes. She was a stupid girl. She was stupid to think she would ever get to choose anything for herself. Arya tugs her wrist away from Catelyn who reaches out with her other hand.

“Let her go,” Robb commands. "There are guards surrounding the keep. She won't go far."

Catelyn releases Arya and Arya nearly runs from the room.

She would not marry the Frey boy. She would not. Arya finds Gendry easily enough, and tells him to gather his things. He raises his eyebrows at Arya.

“I thought that you were going to speak to your mother and brother again this morning?”

“I did. They want me to cast aside our marriage.” Gendry blinks at her for a moment. “We’re not going to do that. Let’s run away.”


End file.
